My grandkids are coming this weekend, and as always, I can hardly wait to see them. I'm not quite as cool as I used to be to the girls because they're 15, 14 and 12, but Trey still thinks I'm all that and a bag of chips. He's just 7, though.
Lauren, the 15-year-old, is driving now. She has her permit. My son has already told her he doesn't think her permit is valid outside of Georgia. He could be right, but it doesn't matter. I don't want to seem selfish, but I don't even like my husband driving my car, so she's not getting behind the wheel.
My father was the same way. After giving my older sister one driving lesson, he agreed to pay for lessons for the rest of us, and we only got to drive the family car if there was something in it for him. If I took Gramma shopping on a Saturday afternoon, I could take the car for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon. But he rarely got in the car with us.
Ellen wasn't the best driver. She was so busy thinking of everything but the road she was a bit of a menace. She hit a parked truck the third day she had her license and said she hadn't seen it. She improved with experience, but she was never as bad as our grandmother.
Nana was 4 feet, 10 inches, so you couln't even see her head over the top of the front seat. She had to peer through the steering wheel. Since she clutched the top of the wheel, her hands were usually over her head.
Nana's way of navigating the narrow, winding country roads was to aim the car down the middle and stomp on the gas. It was terrifying to be in the car with her.
Danny says Lauren is a pretty good driver, but she's inexperienced. She has more confidence than ability, as do most teenage drivers. That's why they're so much more likely to be involved in accidents. They need to be reined in.
I know my kids hated New York's graduated license system, but it gave me a little peace of mind.
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